RICHMOND (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – State Attorney General Jason Miyares announced Thursday that Michael Donivan White has been sentenced by the Wise County Circuit Court to 100 years in prison for the first-degree murder of Big Stone Gap Police Officer Michael Chandler. The sentence follows White’s 100-year sentence imposed by the U.S. District Court in Abingdon on February 21, 2025, for multiple offenses related to Officer Chandler’s murder, firearm offenses, and a large-scale drug-trafficking conspiracy.

An AG’s office release says at around 4:00 AM on November 13, 2021, Officer Chandler responded to a welfare check at a residence in Big Stone Gap. As he approached a vehicle outside the residence, White fired eight rounds, striking Officer Chandler twice. Officer Chandler tragically succumbed to his injuries later that day—his 29th birthday.

White fled the scene, but was captured later that day. Upon his arrest, he told officers that “he should have shot them too.” Subsequent recorded jail calls reinforced White’s complete lack of remorse. In one call, he coldly stated, “I [have] no remorse for him… The man [Officer Chandler] knew when he picked up the gun and the badge he could die.” While behind bars, White discussed his continued plans to use and sell drugs and commit acts of violence, indicating his efforts to obstruct the investigation, engage in other criminal activity, propensity for violence and firearms possession, lack of remorse, and general disregard for others.
Click here for the entire Attorney General’s Office release.